She had recovered nicely from her gunshot wound. Clay had been like a mother hen watching over her from the time she had been shot until now. When he had bounded back into the room after the doctor had examined her, Clay found her asleep and his heart panicked.

"Vivian!!" he yelled as he rushed back to her side.

"Why are you yelling Clay?" he heard Vivian's weak voice say as she turned her head towards his loud voice and slowly opened her eyes.

"I thought..." he said as he reached her side and laid his hand on her forehead. "I thought..." his voice echoed his worry.

"The Doctor said I will be fine" Vivian whispered as she tried to calm him.

"I thought I had lost you" he said lovingly as he touched her cheek, then her lips with his fingertips.

"You can't get rid of me that easily Clay Logan" she smiled up at him as she saw the tears in his eyes.

Clay blew out a heavy breath as it finally sunk in that Vivian was OK. A tear slid down his cheek as he lay his head on her chest and silently thanked GOD.

Six months later, Vivian lay in the same bed.

"I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM!! I HATE HIM!!!" she shouted as another contraction gripped her and she gripped Marita's hand.

"I... understand" Marita winced as she tried, unsuccessfully, to pry her hand from Vivian's.

"WHY DID HE DO THIS TO ME?!" Vivian screamed as she threw her head from side to side trying to escape the pain.

"Push Vivian" Doc Williams calmly said.

"PUSH?!" Vivian lifted her head and glared at the doctor as if he were a madman.

"Yes."

"IT HURTS! You... You MORON!! AAAAHHHHH!!!!" Vivian screamed out and fell back as the pain intensified.

"Take a deep breath..." Marita cringed as Vivian's grip on her hand tightened. "And push" she finished after she had taken her own deep breath.

"Yes... you can" Marita gritted her teeth as the life was squeezed out of her hand. "The sooner you push, the sooner this baby will be born. Now come on" she said as she helped Vivian raised herself. "Push!"

Vivian obeyed Marita and gave a hearty push.

"Good" the doctor said. "I see the baby's head."

After a few more protests and a few more pushes, Vivian felt the mass slip from her body.

"You have a daughter Vivian" the doctor said. "A beautiful daughter."

"A daughter..." Vivian moaned as she fell back on the pillow. "I have a daughter Marita" Vivian sighed with a smile in her voice. She had already forgotten about all the pain.

"I see" Marita smiled as she wiped Vivian's brow.

Moments later, cries were heard and Marita left Vivian's side to attend to the baby while Doc Williams took care of Vivian. While Marita was cleaning the baby, there came a knock at the door and it opened.

"Everything's fine Lexy" Marita said without having to look up from the baby to see who was at the door.

"What'd she have?" Lexy asked.

"A girl" Marita said.

"Ah!" Lexy said as a smile spread across her face. "Now I have a niece" she said before closing the door and going downstairs to report the news to the family.

"Clay will be in here any minute" Marita said as she continued washing his new daughter.

"He can't... aaahhh... see me... like this!" Vivian said as she started pushing forth the afterbirth. "Marita..." she breathed. "Lock that door!"

"Vivian..." Marita started.

"Marita! Please! I can't let him see me like this!"

Marita shook her head and laughed at her friend as she wrapped the baby in a blanket, settled her in her arms and walked over and locked the door. Just as she turned the lock and turned away from the door, the knob turned then there was a loud knock.

"Vivian!?" Clay yelled through the door.

"Go away Clay!"

"Vivian! Open this door!"

"NO! And you go away! I'm unseemly" she said in a very reasonable voice.

Vivian smiled as a wave of love for her newborn baby washed over her. A tear slid down her cheek as Doc Williams walked over to Vivian and laid the baby in her waiting arms.

"Oh my god..." Vivian said in an awed voice as she looked down at her baby. "I can't believe it. That she's here... that she's mine."

Marita smiled down at Vivian as she cried over the baby. Marita understood well the feelings that were running through Vivian.

"It's amazing isn't it" Marita said as she looked at the newborn.

"I can't believe it" Vivian cried lightly as she touched the baby to be sure she was real.

Doc Williams coughed. "Well... Mother and daughter are doing well so my job here is done."

"Doctor Williams" Vivian said as she looked up at him. "Thank you... thank you very much" she said with great sincerity.

"Seeing that healthy baby is thanks enough" he smiled.

"Doctor Williams?" Vivian said shyly as he was about to turn to leave the room. "I'm... I'm so sorry for my behavior... and my awful language" she said as her face turned a darker shade of red. "I really didn't mean to yell at you or call you a moron."

"Don't you worry yourself about that" Doc Williams laughed. "I've been called worse."

"And please forgive Clay. I swear, I don't know what gets into him" she said. "He can say the most outrageous things at times."

"Don't worry about that either. I've heard worse too" Doc Williams laughed again. "I'll be back in a day or so to check on you and your little one. Should I send Clay up?" he asked as he walked toward the door.

"Not just yet" she said then turned to Marita. "Will you help me straighten myself up for Clay?"

"Sure Vivian" Marita smiled.

"Thanks again Doctor Williams" Vivian called out as he opened the door.

"You're welcome" he said just before closing the door.

"Clay will be so happy" Vivian smiled as she looked back down at the baby. "He said he wanted a little girl."

"Really?" Marita said. "I would have thought he wanted a little boy so he could teach him how to race horses."

"I was surprised too. You know how men are about their progeny and continuing the family name" Vivian laughed.

"Maybe the next one will be a boy" Marita said.

"Maybe..." Vivian responded as she continued to gaze at her daughter.

In the next instance the bedroom door flew open. Vivian looked up as gasped as she lifted her hand to her disarrayed mane.

"Clay! I told you I'd send for you!" Vivian said in a hushed shout. "I'm not ready" she started to cry. "I look a mess!" she lamented.

Clay ignored Vivian's protests as he walked toward the bed with a big smile on his face. He sat on the bed next to her, not caring about the 'mess' she was in.

"You look gorgeous" he smiled lovingly at her then tenderly kissed her lips.

When Clay looked down at his daughter, he too was engulfed with love for his child.

"My god Vivian" he repeated her words. "She's beautiful. I can't believe we did it" he said as he touched the baby.

"I know" Vivian said as both parents cried over their baby.

Marita slipped out of the room to give the new parents some privacy and went downstairs.

"ma... ma!" Sean-Michael stood up from his playing with his wooden horses when he saw her coming into the great room. She had been gone much too long for him.

He ran over Marita and wrapped his arms around her legs. Marita smiled down at him, picked him up and gave him a kiss. After Sean-Michael had received his due affection from his mother, he was ready to go back to his wooden horses.

"play horsies" he said as he reached for them.

Marita put him down and he ran back over to his toys. Everyone was there except Isaac and Jeffery, who were tending to one of the horses and Jeremy, who was having lunch his mother and Kate. Alice, Ned, Lexy and Sean were all talking.

"How is she?" Alice asked.

"She's doing fine. They're both doing fine."

"Does she look like Clay or Vivian?" Lexy asked.

"I can't tell yet" Marita said as she walked over to the sofa and sat next to Sean.

The family talked about the new addition for a few more minutes before Lexy changed the subject.

"I can't believe Charlie Adams only got 15 years for shooting Vivian" she said. "I went into town today and saw the sheriff" Lexy said before anyone could ask her how she knew.

"I can't believe that either" Sean said began to frown. "He could have killed her."

"Do we HAVE to talk about this now? "Alice asked. When she and Jeffery had returned from their honeymoon, she had been accosted with the terrible news of what had happened.

"Alice is right" Ned said. "Sean, we can talk with the sheriff later. Now's the time to celebrate my second grandchild" he said smiling.

The family then returned the conversation to more pleasant things and it was decided that they would all have dinner at Sean and Marita's and have a family evening together. After Vivian had rested and was presentable, the family made their introductions to the newest Logan.

"Grace Elizabeth" Vivian said when Lexy asked what name she and Clay had decided on.

Ned had tears in his eyes, again think about Libby and this new grandchild of theirs that bare her name. Alice shed a tear also as she thought of her mother. The family gathered around the bed as Vivian told Grace Elizabeth who each one of them was. Sean-Michael was amazed to finally see someone smaller than he was.

"bay... bay... be" he pointed at Grace.

"That's right Sean-Michael" Lexy, who had been teaching him to say baby, said. "Baby Grace."

"Lexy" Vivian said. "We've already discussed it. Clay won't be taking Grace near those horses." Vivian did not have a love for those animals like the other Logans did.

"What?" Lexy said perplexed. "She HAS to learn to ride" she insisted.

"She will" Vivian said. "She'll learn to ride in a carriage."

The family laughed but Vivian was quite serious. Each one of them knew that Clay would introduce his daughter to the horses and hope she would have a love for them as he had. Even Vivian knew it in the back of her mind but she was determined that her daughter would be a lady and not a little tomboy. The family remained in the room with Vivian, Clay and Grace for the next hour talking, laughing and enjoying each other. The Logan clan was finally back to normal and all was well with each of them.

To Be Continued..........

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